Story+1985-03-24+Sydney,+Australia

”This is a song back....Just down the coast from where I grew up, there’s this old beach resort... And uh...one of those places that’s fallen on hard times.... So uh, they thought they’d legalise gambling and make jobs for people..... But now all they’ve got is, uh, big golden casinos next uh.....block away from the slums and a mafia that fights for control.... This is ‘Atlantic City’”
 * 24.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ‘Atlantic City’: **

”You guys got a lotta activity out there on Sunday (chuckles).... I looked out in the harbour, I seen hundreds of boats..... How do they keep from smashing into each other ? .....They don’t, right ? (chuckles).... Yeah...I was woke up this morning round 10 o’clock by about 30 guys playing tug-of-war in the park (chuckles)..... On Sunday my, my old man used to force us to get into the car and go for a Sunday drive..... It was the only time of the week he wanted to be with the whole family..... He could get a sort of mass torture going on at one time (chuckles)..... ‘Cause my dad, he´d make us get in the car, we wouldn’t wanna go and we’d get in and you know like if you had to go to the bathroom or something, he would never stop..... You’d go ”Dad, here comes a place, here comes a place, here goes a place! ....Oh ....”..... ”Don’t worry, I’ll stop at the next place”..... ”Dad, here comes.... ” (chuckles) ...... But you just drive on down the road...... I remember the biggest, the biggest things we used to do was once a year, my father would save 300 dollars and we’d go down and get another car...... He used to buy these old junkers...... And like it was the only time that me and my sister.... we used to fight all the time..... it was the only time we used to get together on anything..... We’d be begging him to buy a convertible all the time .... ”Dad , can we get a convertible ?”.... ”Well, maybe, maybe, we’ll see.”..... So we’d get down there , he’d start looking around and we’d come home in like a four-door Sedan and uh.....But we used to know , we used to get back at him because we found like that one exact spot in the backseat where no matter what you did when he was driving, he couldn’t reach you (chuckles) (laughter)....Everybody knows where that spot is. (Bruce imitates his father trying to reach the kids)(chuckles)..... Oh man.....But he used to say ”Wait till we get home” (chuckles)....."
 * 24.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ‘Used Cars’:**

”My old man was stuck in hard times (?)...... The worst part about it was that inside, he was a convertible-kinda-guy..... He would sit at the kitchen table at night, smoke cigarettes, drink a little beer..... He used to lock up the front door so that me and my sister would have to come, come past him when we’d get in the house..... Like it was real tricky because some nights I could walk up the porch and go, go in the door, he’d let you walk by..... He’d let you walk through the dining room..... he’d let you get to the bottom of the stairs, then say.... ”Bruuuuce....” (cheers, ‘bruuucing’) ....Yeah, ‘oh, God...’ (?).... Some nights you were better off not coming home till morning...... I used to keep this sleeping bag stashed under these rocks out on the edge of these woods..... And uh sometimes me and my friends would sleep out there or sleep in somebody’s car, they’d let us.....And uh this song’s about that everybody needs some place they can go on those nights they can’t go home....”
 * 24.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ‘The River’: **

‘‘Now...I think I’m in a confessional mood tonight ....( cheers) I’ll tell you a little bit about my ancient history..... Yeah, so you don’t have to read about it after I’ve died, in one of those (?)..... Now when I was young.....young-ER...... I was only interested in three things.... See like my Daddy, he was a pool player so like, I tried to learn how to play pool real good so I could beat him..... Then I was interested in the guitar and then the third thing I was interested in waaaaaass..... You got three guesses....It’s a common interest.....It’s smaller than a bread box, no....But anyway, one Christmastime my folks took me out to this store, for 69.95 they bought me a pool table....Then like we got it home....I remember we had to tie it to the roof of the car , drivin’ home in the snow, holdin’ on to it..... Got it home and my Dad wouldn’t let me have it downstairs so like I used to have to carry it upstairs...... I got it up there and I put it in my bedroom and it just fit....So like I used to bring my girl-friends over and I’d go in the kitchen and say ”Dad, we’re gonna go upstairs and play pool for a while”(cheers)..... He’d say ”Ok, alright”....So like we’d go upstairs but like my bedroom was right over the kitchen and he’d always be listening so if he didn’t hear the guitar strumming or if he didn’t hear the pool balls knocking around, he had this broom stick that he used to bang on the ceiling (cheers)....This worked pretty good for a while...... Then like I grew up and I gave up pool..... And now the other two, the only one I really became good at was the guitar (cheers)...... But the third thing....I’m still looking for some volunteers who wanna practise, practise, practise (cheers).....I’m gonna get it right this year (laughs) ....Ok, alright, in the end all things must pass and there ain’t nothing but glory days.... ”
 * 24.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ‘Glory Days’: **

”This is a song, when I was 16, back home they used to have these clubs, they used to call ‘em hullabaloo clubs...... And uh...They were kinda like uh just old dance clubs and uh I went in one one night and I seen this guy onstage playing all these Paul Revere and the Raiders’ songs..... And uh I met him and we struck up a friendship and we played on and off together in each others’ bands for quite a few years...... And we’d go up to New York City together...... We used to go up to the Village, on weekends, go down to all the little clubs and sit there watchin’ all the guitar players...... Used to go stand in front of the band all day and watch the guy’s hands...... But uh, this song’s for him, he’s not here tonight, this is for Little Steven (cheers)..... He had a record that came out not too long ago called ‘Voice of America’..... It was a really good record, a record if you have a chance, pick up one (?) ...... So this is for him, Steven, wherever, wherever you may be tonight....”
 * 24.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ‘No Surrender’ **

”Take it easy.....Well, now this is a song about the conflicts between worldly things and spiritual health..... between desires of the flesh - sexual desires - and spiritual ecstasy..... Let me tell you that this has been goin’on since the beginning of time...... Now, where did this conflict all begin ?.... Well, it began in a place called The Garden of Eden.... And The Garden of Eden was originally believed to have been located in Mesopotamia..... but the latest theological studies have found out that its actual location was 10 miles south of Jersey City, off the New Jersey Turnpike..... That’s why they call it The Garden State back home.... But now understand, in The Garden of Eden there were none of the accoutrements of modern living....... You didn’t have a nice little bed that you could crawl up into and watch television..... you couldn’t go out on to the highway and buy a cheeseburger if you wanted one ! ..... You couldn’t get any of those, those, those (?) sandwiches! (cheers).... No, Sir! ..... In the Garden of Eden, there was no sin..... there was no sex!..... Man lived in the state of innocence...... Now when it comes to no sex, I prefer the state of guilt that I live in (cheers)..... But before the beginning of this tour, I decided I needed an answer to some of these mysteries and so hitchhiked down along the highway to the location of the Garden of Eden...... And I found out that that spot was now occupied by Happy Dan’s Celebrity Used Car Lot..... I walked in, the man said to me : ‘ Son, you need a yellow-convertible- four-door-DeVille with wire-chrome-wheels-air-conditioning-automatic-heat with a fold- out-bed-in-your-backseat, eight-track tape deck, TV, and a phone so you can talk to your baby when you’re driving all alone’ ..... I said ”I’ll take two” (chuckles)..... I said ”But Dan, that’s not the reason why I came...... I need an answer to some of these mysteries, I need to know where this conflict began.... why I feel so torn apart all the time, why my soul pulls me this way and my body pulls me that way ?”..... He said ”Well, Son, that’s easy ,because right here on these ten beautiful commercially-zoned acres was the sweetest little paradise that Man has ever seen..... Now the Garden of Eden had many wonderous things.... there was a Tree of Life, there was a Tree of Knowledge, there was a man - Adam, there was a woman -Eve and she looked so fine..... And when Adam kissed her, it was the first time that a man had ever kissed a woman..... And she had legs that were long and soft to the touch.... And when Adam touched her, well son, it was the first time that a man had ever touched a woman...... And then they walked out to the green fields and they lay down and when Adam..... Let’s just say it was the first time...... But there was something else in the Garden of State that day...... Ol’ Satan came slitherin’up on his belly and somehow he turned their sweet love into a betrayal and sent them runnin’down into the darkness below.... But it’s alright ‘cause right here on this back lot - for 99.95 and no money down and don’t worry if you’ve got bad credit, it’s good here..... I’ve got their getaway car!.... And if you’ve got the nerve to ride, I’ve got the keys ....to the first....Pink Cadillac!”
 * 24.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ‘Pink Cadillac’:**

”I remember it was about, I guess 12 years ago..... It was round this time, this time in the summer..... I used to have this old garage-apartment down by the beach, got it for about a 100 bucks a month...... And I had this old Camaro I’d bought for a 500 dollars, it was a convertible..... I remember at night when .... you’d have those days towards the end of the summer, when it’d get real warm in the daytime and really cool off the night..... I used to like bundle up and put on my two t-shirts, sweatshirt and a leather jacket and jump in the car and put the top down...... I used to go drivin’down all the backroads...... And there used to be this spot down by the river where uh.....on weekends everybody used to get together..... It was kinda like uh, I guess it was an old junkyard where people from town’d bring down the stuff they didn’t want anymore and leave it out there to rust...... But there was this little clearing underneath these trees where we’d all meet..... It was the first time, the first time I met her..... And uh....We started goin’out and you know how it is when you first start goin’out, it’s like everything’s great all the time..... You know you laugh at all the stupid jokes, everything’s funny...... And we had a lot of fun for a long time...... But I don’t know what it is that pulls people apart or makes them change, but she got to where she didn’t wanna talk much anymore or go out much anymore, wanna stay in a lot...... And she’d start hidin’ my keys at night so I couldn’t go out ...... (chuckles) you know.....(chuckles)..... And one time, ‘cause I remember us being such good friends at one time, I think I missed that the most....... And I knew that once she understood that when I used to take that car out and when I won ..... That it was the only time when I got to feeling really, really good about myself...... It might have been stupid to other people but it was something that made me really feel good...... And I know once she understood....... And to have something, just one thing in your whole life that you can do and makes you feel proud of yourself..... I don´t think that’s too much for anybody to ask..... (....) That was the night that we packed up..... packed up our bags and left....We still don’t know where we’re going yet but I guess that’ll come in time...... Sometimes it feels like time gets running so short that it’s gonna run out on you ‘fore you get to where you wanna go.... and there’s not much you can do but to keep on goin’..... and keep searchin’..... and keep on goin’.....”
 * 24.03.85 Sydney, Australia, intro to ‘Racing in the Street’:**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//